Sean Hannity, the Jan. 6 Committee Would Like a Word

The House select committee investigating last year's Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol wants Sean Hannity's cooperation. A source first leaked the news to Axios, but the committee has since released a letter to Hannity, dated Tuesday, which says the panel has learned the Fox News host allegedly had "advance knowledge" of the Trump team's plans for Jan. 6. Hannity, per the letter, expressed some "concerns" and offered "advice" to the team as the plans took shape. The committee makes clear it has no plans to ask Hannity questions related to his job as a member of the press, but rather desires his "voluntary cooperation on a specific and narrow range of factual questions," including a conversation he had with then-President Trump on the night of Jan. 5 about what was to come the following day.

None of the conversations they want to ask him about, they stress in the letter, "are subject to any kind of privilege." Even so, his lawyer tells Axios "any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press." The letter cites multiple text messages between Hannity and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, among other people in the Trump orbit. "Guys, we have a clear path to land the plane in 9 days," reads one sent on Jan. 10, in advance of the Jan. 20 inauguration. "He can’t mention the election again. Ever. I did not have a good call with him today. And worse, I’m not sure what is left to do or say, and I don’t like not knowing if it’s truly understood. Ideas?" (More Sean Hannity stories.)